Hey everyone,

First, I'd like to apologize for my terrible writing. I am not used to writing in third person, so I must get accustomed to it once again, though that will be a problem because my other story is in first person. Anyway, I'd like to announce that although some myths contradict with others, I may need to change the order in which historical myths took place to be able to fit the characters I want into the story.

Although the setting is ancient Greece, I will make the characters talk in English and informally, as if they were regular boys/men or girls/women in the modern world. It makes writing this a little bit easier, and the characters more relaxed than if they talked formally all the time. I am trying to make Jason seem like a more relaxed character at first before he gains responsibility.

I apologize for any grammatical errors in the story following.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719

Chapter 3

First Tastes of Sea Voyage

Percy never thought that before their quest would be a hassle, aside from getting the Argonauts assembled.

It turns out that Artemis was a little miffed from the comment about women belonging in the households serving their families. They were blown off course, Percy being able to tell exactly where they were in the sea. Now, instead of heading east then north, they were heading southwest, towards Thrinacia.

The crew quickly adjusted the sails, lowering them and getting to the oars to paddle out of this mess. Jason ordered all sons of Poseidon to try controlling the water around, but going against a goddess' power would be unsuccessful.

Percy and the other sons of Poseidon managed to calm the sea around, but the journey was already heading in a sour note.

Percy knew that his own water controlling powers were not great, in fact, he would hardly call them powers. The best thing he could do was calm water or make it like rapids. He didn't know why it was this way, but he figured it had something to do with investing all of his time training in swordplay. He literally spent almost every single day and night practicing swordplay when he could have been going out in the real world, the cities, to learn about what life was like and all of that. Four intense years of training...he wished he could take half of that back. He was a disgrace to sons of Poseidon, even if the god himself had helped his swordplay and told him that he had a natural ability to be a good sword fighter.

This was ongoing for at least half an hour before the winds suddenly died down and a huge wave propelled them forward. The ship lurched and the Argonauts managed to hold on before they could tumble into the Mediterranean.

One of the sons of Poseidon started, "What the—" before a wave crashed over top of them and his words were lost.

Percy submerged before looking around to see whether the others were alright. Most were fine, though the water had sprayed overtop the entire ship. Most of the crew members were wet, though he and the other sons of Poseidon were dry. He was kind of glad that he still had the power to stay dry.

"Poseidon is giving us a boost," Jason announced from the helm, where Tiphys and Ancaeus were soaked. They continued helping steer the boat, however, seemingly unfazed by the winds and waves. "Be prepared."

Percy held on to the nearest gunwale tightly in anticipation of the waves to come. He could feel the pressure slowly building in the water behind the boat. He could see the currents in the water. Then suddenly, BOOM!

A boat-rattling wave slammed into the stern, as if whacking its butt.

"Are you sure this is Poseidon?" Percy screamed. "It doesn't seem like it to me!"

"I don't know, but hold on!"

Slowly in the sky, clouds began floating in, but not those bright white ones. The clouds coming in were dark grey, like...

"Storm clouds!" Argus called out.

Thunder rumbled in the distance. The waves were beginning to retreat now, the sea slowly calming back down. The wild winds presumably from Artemis had also stopped. The Argonauts knew that the ocean battle was over, but all stared at the sky, which was slowly getting darker and darker.

"This is not summer," Percy gulped.

"But that does seem like Zeus," replied the man next to him. Percy stared at him. With a cheeky smile, the man held out his hand. "The name is Periclymenus. I am the son of Neleus, King of Pylos. My grandfather is Poseidon."

"You have control over water?" Percy asked a little bit shocked that he'd never met a grandson of one of the gods. Heracles didn't count.

"By the gods, no," Periclymenus shook his head. "I am just the son of a son of Poseidon. But, Poseidon did give me a cool power."

"What is it?"

"I will show you later, when we get to Iolcus," he chuckled. "You know, you remind me of a friend of mine when he was a child. You seem very powerful, though, Percy. That is something he is not."

"I'm not that powerful," Percy blushed.

The boat began swaying a little, the winds beginning to pick up again. Thunder rumbled again, this time louder and closer.

"Raise the sails," Jason ordered. "The winds are picking up again."

"Raising the sails!" called Heracles. The son of Zeus hopped up and pulled on the ropes. With his immense strength, he managed to raise the sails in less than thirty seconds, a feat that no regular man could do. Percy was astonished that Heracles got all of the benefits in life: he has a lot of strength, he is practically undefeatable in battle, and he is considered to be the greatest hero of all time, even better than Perseus, his ancestor.

Percy, however, was somewhat of an "in between." Sure he was great at swordplay, but all the praise he got...sometimes he wondered if Jason going full on in a "non-fatal battle" was nothing compared to his swordplay when he was going full on while killing people. He sometimes wondered if Chiron just wanted to raise Percy's spirits because of the horrible things that had happened to him. His mother was killed right in front of his eyes.

Percy always had this self-doubt about himself. What if I'm not what people tell me I am?

He reflected back to the short skirmish that he and Jason had just before the voyage. Jason had his sword at Percy's neck, yet when Percy ducked under it, Jason could have knocked him to the floor by tripping up his legs.

That was the main reason why Percy hated being called the best of anything. He knew ways that the others could best him in, whether it be swordplay or intelligence or hand-to-hand combat. It just seemed to him that others were too stupid to realize it...not Chiron, he meant other mortals that he'd met.

The hairs that were growing on Percy's neck stood up on end before they settled back down, as if the danger was suddenly retreating. He was correct on his guess. The sky, which had been growing darker, suddenly lit up, temporarily blinding the son of Poseidon.

When he looked back up, the storm clouds began retreating, Zeus seemingly no longer angry.

Periclymenus sighed with relief. "I thought we'd be blasted by Lord Zeus. I thank him for not following through with that."

"I wonder why," Percy mused.

"Keep rowing until there are no more interventions," Jason ordered. "We must have a secure path to Iolcus. We should be ready to cease the paddle by midday. It will be a long journey, my friends, but our combined strength shall be worth it. Heracles, could you come up and make sure that Tiphys and Ancaeus do not mess up the directions? I will help with the sails."

"Of course, Jason," Heracles said, acknowledging that Jason was the true leader of the Argonauts.

Jason nodded at the son of Zeus and jogged down to the deck. He pointed at Periclymenus and jerked his head towards the sails. "Help me with the sails, would you...?"

"Periclymenus," he responded. "That is my name, sir."

"Periclymenus," Jason repeated. "Help me with the sails, would you?"

"Yes, sir."

Jason turned to Percy. "Go give Atalanta something to do. Say I tell her to either row or stand at the bow of the Argo as a lookout. Alright?"

"Got it, sir."

Jason's mouth twitched into a small, proud smile. "Go."

The son of Poseidon went downstairs, where the daughter of Iasus had gone after the first five minutes. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but he didn't really want to find out.

Percy went to the lower deck, which was technically the second floor, and scoured the sleeping quarters to find Atalanta. He was pretty sure she didn't know which room was supposed to be Jason's, so he checked every room. Surprisingly, she was careful in checking which room was which; he found her in Jason's room inspecting the beds and all of that other stuff.

She heard Percy's footsteps and turned around to meet the surprised boy's face. She smiled at him. "I may have been born to royalty, but I have grown up in the wilderness, hunting and making sure that I hear the almost inaudible noises."

"You spent your entire life living out in the wilderness and training?" Percy asked.

Atalanta shook her head. "Living out in the wilderness, yes; however, no one, not any hero or heroine, truly trains for years straight. There are always breaks that heroes take to relax. That is why I believe men cannot be excellent fighters without being gifted. I saw your fight with Jason, by the way. I says you can defeat him easily, yet—"

"He could have taken me out at one point, I know," Percy sighed. "I don't know. Chiron said that I was the best mortal swordsman he'd ever met, but I'm wondering if he was lying, that he was just trying to raise my spirits."

"Who knows?" she shrugged. "Maybe he was saying that compared to other heroes at your age, you are better. Jason could have been worse than you at fighting when he was ten. And he probably was. The fact that you can go head-to-toe with someone twice your age is an amazing feat already."

"Thanks," he smiled. Then he remembered what he had come for. "Oh yes, Jason wanted me to tell you that you should come above deck to either row or to stand at the bow to scout."

"I suppose I will row," Atalanta sighed. Percy saw her clench something in her hand. "It is more entertaining than standing by myself at the bow. It would be very boring."

"It doesn't have to be boring," Percy said. "I have nothing to do, so maybe we could talk. I am kind of bored anyways."

"Sure, I guess."

Percy followed Atalanta up the steps to the main deck where Tiphys, Ancaeus and Jason were shouting out commands to each other and the rowers. The winds were fairly steady, none blowing from completely different directions as before. The waves had also calmed down until that lightly lapped against the hull.

When Jason caught sight of Percy and Atalanta, he waved. "So what's it going to be?"

"We're going to scout ahead, keep an eye on the ocean forward," Percy called back. "I might be able to sense creatures up ahead, though it's not likely."

The rowers groaned. Theseus spoke up. "Come on, Percy. We need your muscle and strength to row this faster. Do you know how long the journey is to Iolcus? If we were flying, then it would be a different story."

"I may have trained for four years and become a decent swordsman, but trust me, I'm not that strong," he replied. "Plus, I don't actually have much power with a sword. Chiron taught me in a different way than you guys. I fight tactically."

"That's for sure," Theseus muttered. "Must be why you beat us."

"Anyways, like Jason says, keep rowing and we'll be there in time," Percy encouraged. "Besides, if the other son of Poseidon have a little extra energy, they can send a little burst of energy into the water to propel us forward faster."

"Why can't you?"

"Um...I can't control water that well," he replied slightly embarrassed. "I still need years of practice with that to get to a decent level."

"Sure, sure."

Percy returned his attention back to Atalanta who was patiently waiting for him. She must've been really bored. Who would want to talk to him that badly?

When they reached the prow of the Argo, each of them climbed up on a little platform that Argus had installed into the Argo. Without the platform, there would not be a clear view of what was ahead.

Percy glanced at Atalanta and saw something glittering in her hands. He knew he probably shouldn't have asked, but his curiosity took over. "What's that in your hands? Is that...jewellery?"

Atalanta closed her fist tighter and regarded him with a cool complexion. "There is nothing in my hands?"

"Then open them," he said.

Atalanta hesitated, eyeing Percy warily. For the first time, he noticed that she had brown eyes. Sure, he'd seen that she had dark brown hair, but he'd never looked at her eyes. They reminded of him of his mother, just as the dark brown hair did.

"This was a gift," Atalanta replied, shaking Percy out of his thoughts. He was too busy staring at her eyes to notice she revealed what was inside her closed fist. It was a necklace, one so beautiful that it must have been a royal gift. The entire chain was gold, gemstones cut and placed all along the chain. He saw an emerald, but that was the only gemstone he knew of. The other ones were so different; he'd never seen them before.

"Whoa," Percy marveled, staring at the necklace in wonder. "That's...beautiful. Di immortales."

"It is, isn't it?" Atalanta said sadly. "I love the rocks on here, though I do not really knew what they are. I know sardonyx and carnelian and emerald, but the others are unfamiliar to me."

"I haven't even seen those other two rocks before," he said. "Is it called sirdawnyx? And then carnelian?"

"The second one you got correct, but the first one is sardonyx, like sar-daw-nyx or sar-dn-yx."

"Sar-dn-yx?"

"Something like that."

Percy touched the rocks on the necklace carefully, making sure that he didn't break it. "You said it was a gift. Who gave this to you?"

"Meleager, son of Oeneus and Althaea," she said quietly. The way she said his name made him think that maybe he meant more to her than just some random nobody. In fact, she seemed as though she...

"You love him, don't you," he concluded. By the sorrowful look on her face, he knew his guess was correct. "You said you were found by hunters, though. Hunters usually fall under Artemis' protection...and the way Orion treated her back in the old days... Is it safe to fall in love with someone, even if you really care for them?"

The daughter of Iasus shook her head, clearly troubled. "I do not know. You are much too young to understand what—"

"No, I'm not," he answered sincerely. "I have been through much more than a young child must endure. My life may not be as bad as if I were from Sparta, but I was poor with my mother. I watched her die in front of my eyes, and then I spoke with Chiron a lot. He is a wise centaur."

"There are things you do not know," she insisted. "Forget about the necklace. We have a job to do."

"Atalanta—"

"We have a job to do," she repeated.

Her previously open demeanor rapidly shifted in that little conversation, causing the situation to become sour. He understood that she wanted to keep that gift to herself, not wanting to share the details about her complicated situation, but it was okay to open up sometimes, right?

That was a huge issue for Percy. He had never been good at talking to people. Although he wasn't afraid of one-on-one conversations (even if he hated attention from larger crowds), he tended to say something that ticked people off. The only thing about that was the fact that he'd rarely talked to anybody besides Chiron, a tiny bit with his father, Jason, and a little bit of Theseus. That affected him greatly as his inexperience with being social caused difficulties between him and the person he was talking with.

Twice that had happened in a month, first with that girl in the bar, Rhodes, and now with Atalanta. He hoped he didn't mess things up with Atalanta. She was cool, and he kind of looked up to her as a female role-model. He could learn a couple of things about what women could do besides be wives, maids, mothers and slaves.

It was a tiring day, the Argo reaching a point northeast of Athens, at least according to Ancaeus.

When Percy went to sleep, nightmares consumed his conscious, Morpheus deciding that Percy should get a good scare that night.

In his dreams, he was standing in a dark cave-like area, a disgusting river flowing next to him. His dream-self looked around, analyzing his surroundings. He took a few steps down the river and looked out at the vast kingdom that stood before him. The kingdom, so vast and mighty, stretched so far that Percy could not see the end with his naked eye. He saw the empty field that billions of spirits stood on, waiting endlessly for time and space to end. The Fields of Asphodel. His eyes trailed to the next field, where spirits who did crime in their life were sentenced to. The Fields of Punishment. Next to that was a much brighter place, a small city filled with happiness and joy. The Elysian Fields. In the straight, dead center of the Elysian Fields were three islands mushed together, and immediately, Percy knew that's where he wanted to go. The Isles of Blessed. In the middle of it all stood a giant black palace, a palace so eerie that Percy couldn't even describe it. The Palace of Hades.

He heard the shuffling of feet next to him and he turned.

A mortal was being dragged along by a beautiful woman, who just happened to have a sneer on her face. The mortal was whimpering, begging for mercy, but the woman would have none of it.

"You swore to me that you would never give your children up, protecting them at all costs," she growled. "You have betrayed your word."

"Please, Lady Styx—"

"There is nothing I can do," she said. "Once it is broken, consequences must occur."

Then she pushed the man into the River Styx, and Percy watched with horrid fascination as the man began burning up painfully and agonizingly until his essence was no more, his spirit washed away in the acidic waters of the River Styx.

The goddess turned to me. "A word for the wise, son of Poseidon. Be careful what you promise, for drastic consequences will ensue."

Then with a woosh, he was whisked away to another place, this time, a land above ground. It too was a kingdom, though less vast and more majestic than the dark palace of Hades.

It was a beautiful land, though it did not look like it was in Greece.

Curious, Percy explored the area, walking past beautiful rainbow-like gardens and beautiful statues of what he assumed were previous kings of the place. As he slowly reached the front of the palace, something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He'd seen something glittering, as Helios was halfway to midday.

Then he turned his vision just slightly and gasped. On an oak tree, not far but a safe distance from the palace, a drakon lay on the ground, its body wrapping around the tree. Then, on one of the branches, glittering ram's wool lay across it. The Golden Fleece.

Percy turned around to find a stern-looking girl staring at him, as if she could see him. She had long dark hair and looked a little bit younger than Jason, maybe Theseus' age. The young woman continued staring at him, which starting creeping him out. Why was the girl looking at him?

"Medea!" a man shouted, and the girl turned.

A man was standing ten paces behind her. He was wearing fancy clothing, so Percy assumed that this was either a royal family member or the king of Colchis himself.

"Coming, father," Medea said. She glanced at Percy one more time before turning to go follow her father. Percy watched as the two disappeared around the corner of the palace before a soft glow emanated from his own body. Surprised, he saw that his legs were disappearing into water vapor, sizzling away from his body. Slowly, he completely disappeared before all went black.

Before he could wake up, though, a demon appeared out of the darkness and hissed at him, scaring the "heebie-jeebies" out of him and waking him up from his dreams.

When he woke, he was alone in his room, his heart pounding at a million beats per minute.

Percy came above deck in all his glory, bags under his eyes and wearing dirty clothes. He rubbed his eyes as the sunlight was a little too much for him at this point. Percy went up to the helm where Tiphys and Ancaeus were studying the map.

They noticed the boy approaching and gave him weary smiles. "Good morning, Percy," greeted Tiphys.

"Have you been up all night?" the boy asked.

"Yes," replied Ancaeus, "to make sure that the boat stays on course. This may be a bireme, but we can steal one of the oars to steer at the back. It is tough because of the sheer weight of the boat; however, we are able to accomplish this feat. We put the oar back this morning when Jason woke up."

Percy nodded tiredly.

Ancaeus seemed to notice that Percy was really tired. "What is wrong, boy? Are you tired? If you are, you should get more sleep."

"No, no," he interjected. "I'm not tired. I'm—I just had a bad dream last night."

"What was it?"

"Nothing important."

Ancaeus nodded knowing very well that Percy did not want to talk about it. It only made the son of Poseidon feel worse. Why couldn't he shut his own mouth in situations like this?

"So," he said trying to change the subject, "where are we right now?"

"If we are on course, we will reach there hopefully just after midday," Ancaeus informed him.

Percy looked out at the ocean waters and confirmed that they were heading in a northwest direction at a very quick rate. He found it funny that he had ocean powers in being able to tell if something is right or wrong on sea, but controlling water came a little difficult to him. It was kind of ironic...in a way.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Percy asked.

"Throw the chip log off the stern and count to ten before pulling it back," Tiphys told him. "The chip log is that thing right there." He pointed to triangular piece of wood attached to a bunch of rope knotted at even intervals. "It's tied to the stern of the Argo, so don't worry about losing it."

Percy nodded and did his job. He grabbed the triangular piece of wood and tossed it over the stern of the ship.

"Don't forget to count the knots," Ancaeus reminded.

Percy found it difficult to count time and knots at the same time. He barely managed to do it, thinking he'd messed up on time and restarted. When he pulled the chip log back, he recounted the knots, confirming that there were eight knots that had passed in around ten seconds.

"Um, you two are stupid and made me count knots and time at the same time," Percy said. "But eight knots passed in around ten seconds. Could have been more."

"Eight knots, huh?" Tiphys regarded me with a curious look. "You think your father may have helped us overnight, in the dark? It would usually take around seven days by sea."

"Really?"

The man laughed. "I'm just joking around. It takes two days, my boy. With the extra boost from Poseidon the previous day, we should be there after midday, like Ancaeus informed."

"Cool," Percy said.

There wasn't much else to do on the ship, the older Argonauts either rowing, sleeping, drinking, or eating. Even Atalanta began rowing, ignoring Percy. Her hatred toward him slowly drifted away as the day passed on, though it seemed she was not ready to forgive him yet for intruding on something she did not want to talk about.

Percy just stood at the bow, on the platform where he had temporarily severed his relationship with Atalanta, even if they had only been acquaintances. He stared at the open ocean water and pondered on the dream he'd had last night. Sure, he understood why Morpheus had shown him Colchis and the Golden Fleece, but why had he shown him Lady Styx punishing a man. That part confused him.

Would he make a promise in the future that Morpheus was trying to hint to? Was Lady Styx warning him about a true event of the future, where Percy would make a promise, only to end up wanting to break that promise? He had millions of guesses, but he couldn't conclude as to why they wanted to show that to him. But there was that one part of him that said, What if they do not mean you, but one close to you?

Percy had a bad feeling about it all.

"Percy!" Jason suddenly called. He had just appeared on the main deck. "It's breakfast. Would you like something?"

"Anything, I'm starving."

They went down to the kitchen where someone had prepared eggs and pig slices. In no time, Percy gobbled the food down. He hadn't had dinner or lunch the previous day, so he had very little energy.

Until midday, he spoke with Jason in the kitchen about the Golden Fleece and how it was protected by a drakon. Jason seemed a little worried, but the son of Aeson stayed calm and told Percy that they would find a way to defeat that drakon.

A conch shell was blown when they saw Iolcus glimmering in the distance. Heracles, Theseus and Periclymenus raised the white flag, as the Argo looked like a warship, even if there was only one. Percy noticed that giant crossbows had been attached to both sides of the ship, two in foredeck, two in aft.

"Jason?" he asked. "Why are there four giant crossbows—"

"Argus forgot that he had extra supplies that would be extra weight on the ship when he was securing the hull from the inside," Jason said, cutting him off. "Theseus suggested that we make weapons out of them. We made four crossbows and at least fifty giant javelins."

"Wow...how many extra supplies did he have?"

"A lot," Jason said. "If you ask me, I think it was Hera's doing. The way she initiated the building process of the Argo means that she is helping us throughout this journey, I hope."

"I guess so."

The Argo approached the port in Iolcus quickly, the port workers allowing the crew to disembark as the front of the ship hit the sand.

"Welcome to Iolcus, my fellow Argonauts," Jason said. "We should be leaving soon, as long as Pelias is foolish enough to allow us to go. Son of Zeus, please blend into the crowd so my uncle does not think we are attempting to have you do all the work."

Heracles shrugged when some of the crew sent pointed looks at him. "Yes, Jason."

Jason looked over the sea of Argonauts standing before him. Percy caught his eye and nodded, giving the signal that he would take the rear of the group. Then the son of Aeson regarded his entire crew and led them in a march to the palace of Pelias, ready to head on the most exciting (and only) quest of his life.

Hey everyone,

Hope you enjoy this chapter.

I apologize for any grammatical errors in the chapter above and if any historical facts are actually wrong. I have spent my time looking through different websites, and even a couple of books, but the story that will continue may have incorrect historical info. Still, I believe it just adds to the effect.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719